The Docker Tutorial

What is Docker

Let’s start at the very beginning. We’ll discover what Docker is and why containers are so popular. Then you’ll learn how to pull images from the Docker Hub, and what happens when you run a container.

Create a Simple Dockerfile

We’ve seen how to use ready-made images, but what about creating one of our own? After writing just a few lines, we can spin up a custom image complete with an operating system of our choice.

Setting Up Nginx

Now we can begin building out what we’ll use to run any Laravel application. First thing’s first: in order to process requests from the browser, we need a web server. Nginx is a perfect fit for the job.

Docker Compose and MySQL

It’s time to add a database for our application, but that means we’ll need to separately balance two different containers. Docker ships with built-in software that makes this easy, and it all starts with a single file.

A PHP Container

We’re getting closer to running our application, and the last piece we need is a PHP container. This one is a bit tricky, since there can be some issues with file permissions. But don’t worry, there’s a workaround that we can use to glide right through.

Use Composer With Docker

During development and deployment, you’re bound to use Composer to install, update, or configure packages in your application. Let’s spin that off into its own container so we can make Docker do the work for us, without having to install any additional software.

Running Artisan and NPM

In this episode, just like we saw with Composer, we’ll offload running npm and artisan scripts to a separate container. This way, we can run multiple commands at once, all without blocking the main container serving our app.

Packaging for Distribution

Right now, we have a great environment for local Laravel development. We could deploy this setup just like it is, but with a few small tweaks and a couple additions, we can make our containers faster and more secure for production environments.